[Illustration:  Fig. 321.—­View of the Town of Dortmund in the Sixteenth Century.—­From an Engraving on Copper in P. Bertius’s “Theatrum Geographicum.”]

The initiation of a free judge was accompanied by extraordinary formalities.  The candidate appeared bareheaded; he knelt down, and, placing two fingers of his right hand on his naked sword and on a rope, he took oath to adhere to the laws and customs of the holy tribunal, to devote his five senses to it, and not to allow himself to be allured therefrom either by silver, gold, or even precious stones; to forward the interests of the tribunal “above everything illumined by the sun, and all that the rain reaches;” and to defend them “against everything which is between heaven and earth.”  The candidate was then given the sign by which members of the association recognised each other.  This sign has remained unknown; and nothing, even in the deeds of the Vehmic archives, leads one even to guess what it was, and every hypothesis on this subject must be looked upon as uncertain or erroneous.  By one of the fundamental statutes of the Terre Rouge, a member convicted of betraying the secrets of the order was condemned to the most cruel punishment; but we have every reason for asserting that this sentence was never carried out, or even issued against a free judge.

[Illustration:  Fig. 322.—­The Landgrave of Thuringia and his Wife.—­Fac-simile of a Miniature in the Collection of the Minnesinger, Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century.]

In one case alone during the fourteenth century, was an accusation of this sort made, and that proved to be groundless.

It would have been considered the height of treason to have given a relation, or a friend, the slightest hint that he was being pursued, or that he had been condemned by the Holy Vehme, in order that he might seek refuge by flight.  And in consequence of this, there was a general mistrust of any one belonging to the tribunal, so much so that “a brother,” says a German writer, “often feared his brother, and hospitality was no longer possible.”

The functions of free judges consisted in going about the country seeking out crimes, denouncing them, and inflicting immediate punishment on any evil-doer caught in the act (Figs. 323 and 324).  The free judges might assemble provided there were at least seven in number to constitute a tribunal; but we hear of as many as three hundred assisting at a meeting.

[Illustration:  Figs. 323 and 324.—­Free Judges.—­Fac-simile of two Woodcuts in the “Cosmographie Universelle” of Munster:  in folio, 1552.]

It has been erroneously stated that the sittings of the Vehmic tribunals were held at night in the depths of forests, or in subterranean places; but it appears that all criminal business was first heard in public, and could only be subjected to a secret judgment when the accused had failed either publicly to justify himself or to appear in person.